Electronic-Diary for recording headaches, triggers, and medication use: Development and evaluation

It is well established that electronic-diaries would reveal higher compliance and accuracy rates than the short- and long paper diaries. In this research, the author evaluates the reliability and validity of e-diary and prove a useful tool in clinical trials of behavioral treatment for headaches.

To assess an e-diary designed to measure medication consumption, headaches, and, triggers regarding validity and reliability, and variables such as participant compliance and ease of use.

Using a disproportionately stratified allocation process, 181 patients were classified into either e-diaries group or paper diaries group.  The paper diary group involved two subgroups, one representative of traditional paper diaries and one parallel to the e-dairies, and e-diary group involved four subgroups on the basis of available technology to the patient. The study initiated with participants who showed self-identified as migraine and headache sufferers visiting a screening session that incorporated headache diagnosis. The convergent validity of the diaries determined by applying the SF-36 and Headache Disability Inventory, and the discriminant validity of the diaries evaluated using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. A Measure of Acceptance Questionnaire was also given to the patients. Lastly, participants finished questionnaires for a second time. 

Strong test-retest reliability was found with five outcome measures - peak intensity, medication usage, average intensity, headache frequency,  and duration for all three types of the diary. These five measures for the e-diaries exhibited good divergent and convergent validities. The tradition paper diaries showed significantly more errors in data completion and higher missing data scores as compared to the paper diaries parallel to e-dairies and e-dairies group. Also, the tradition paper diaries were assessed by the patients as more troublesome and considerably less easy to use as compared to the e-diaries and other paper diaries. 

The e-diaries are proven to be a beneficial tool for the clinical trials of behavioural treatment for headaches.